About the Book
A Classical Archaeologists’s Life: The Story so Far shows that a scholar’s life is not all scholarship, though much of this book is devoted to the writing of books and, especially, travel to classical and other lands. Boardman is a Londoner, born in Ilford and attending school in Essex (Chigwell). His teenage years were spent often in air raid shelters rather than with ‘mates‘ (all evacuated). There are distinctive ‘aunties’, the rituals of daily life in a London suburb. The non-scholarly figures live large in this account of his life, marriage, children, new houses. At Cambridge he learned about classical archaeology as a necessary addition to reading Homer and Demosthenes, even being obliged to recite the latter. And those were the days of Bertrand Russell’s lectures in a university reawakening after the war. Thence to the British School at Athens to learn about excavation (Smyrna, Knossos, later Libya). His return from Greece was to Oxford, not Cambridge, at first in the Ashmolean Museum, then as Reader and Professor. A spell in New York gives an account of the city before the troubles, when Petula Clark’s Down Town was dominant. There is much here to reflect on university life and teaching, and on the reasons for and problems with the writing of his many books (some 40), with reflection on the university, colleges and their ways. Travels are well documented – a notable trip through Pakistan and China, in Persia, Egypt, Turkey – with comment on what he saw and experienced beyond archaeology. A lecture tour in Australia provides comment beyond the academic. He visited Israel often, lecturing and publishing for the Bible Lands Museum. Several tours in the USA took him to most of their museums and universities as well as many other sights, from glaciers to alligators.
This book is a mixture of scholarly reminiscence, reflection on family life, travelogue, and critique of classical scholarship (not all archaeological) worldwide, illustrated with pictures of travels, friends, home life, and, for a historian, a reflection on experiences of over 90 years.
Table of Contents:
A Note to the Reader;
PART I;
Starters;
Family and friends;
Home;
Redbridge School;
Chigwell School: the War;
A Return to Chigwell and Ilford;
Cambridge: Magdalene College;
Greece I (1948-50);
Excavation I – Smyrna/Izmir Bayrakli;
Return to Britain 1950;
The Army – Marriage;
Greece II (1952-5);
Excavation II;
Oxford, an Academic Career;
Living in Oxford;
Excavation III – Tocra;
The United States;
Homes: the Cottage, Woodstock;
Other Travelling;
Dreams;
Films and TV;
On Health and Old Age;
Cars;
Julia and Mark, the Wider Family;
Ninety+;
PART II: BOOKS AND ACADEMIA;
Starting to Write Books;
Oxford and Cambridge;
Books;
Dealers;
Pupils;
Conferences Overseas;
Friends and Families;
The Parthenon;
Memberships;
Glittering Prizes;
Money;
Religion;
Poetry;
PART III: GEMS, BOB AND CLAUDIA;
Gems;
Afterword;
Bibliography;
Index of People;
Index of Places
About the Author :
Sir John Boardman is one of the foremost experts on ancient Greek art. Having served as Assistant Director of the British School at Athens (1952-1955), he was Assistant Keeper at the Ashmolean Museum and later Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the University of Oxford (1978-1994). He continues to work in Oxford, at the Classical Art Research Centre, where he is mainly preoccupied with the study of ancient gems.
Review :
'Few who have investigated the world of classical archaeology over the past 60 years can have failed to benefit from consulting John Boardman’s many and varied publications. His central position continues to be paramount, and in this book we have his spirited account of his career, the researches he has carried out, the travels he has undertaken, and the home life and friendships he has enjoyed over the past 90 years.' - Brian A. Sparkes (2020), Classics for All
'How John managed any teaching is amazing, given his travel accounts. Numerous and fascinating, whether undertaken for research or for pleasure (e.g., the Swan Hellenic Cruises), they cover most of Asia, part of the Near East and Africa, a great deal of Australia as well as Europe, and even the New World (Mexico), many of them revealing his ever expanding interest in the Greeks overseas and their (even if remote) influence on others’ arts and cultures, some as remote as India and China.' - Brunilde Ridgway (2021), Bryn Mawr Classical Review
'Archaeopress has established a series on the lives of archaeologists, many of them like a recent study by David Gill of Dr John Disney who was the benefactor of the Disney Chair of Archaeology at Cambridge in the nineteenth century, long dead. In the case of the current volume we are given a lively and often entertaining account of a life, both personal and professional, by a lively and much-loved archaeologist, still active in his nineties. - Martin Henig (2021), Association for Roman Archaeology News
'This book is a must for anyone interested in the ancient world and represents a unique chronicle of an extraordinary scholar.' - Mark Merrony (2021), ANTIQVVS
